Eye R&R

My show opened last Friday, and the next morning I left for several days of giving my eyes a little R&R. Which really means letting them look without a job or a deadline. It was luscious, and they loved this little road trip.

So what follows is (mostly) a visual diary of the last four days. Hope you find some of these images compelling too.

From the Met Museum:

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The natural light in the Greek galleries at the Met draws me to those rooms every time I go to the museum. What used to be a crowded cafeteria is now a feast of light on sculpted bodies and drapery.

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The Richard Serra show of drawings is typically Serra-strong, full of that fierce and unwavering intentionality that infuses all his work. Some of the pieces are delicate and more subtle than you might expect, but there is also some massive oilsticked wall pieces that have a texture that reads like tar. What’s not to love? (Some of these large scale oilsticked pieces are on display at Dia:Beacon as well.)

***Biggest surprise: The Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty. I had several artist friends who told me to see it but I factored that recommendation down given my general disinterest in fashion. So let me be clear for anyone visiting New York any time between now and August 7th: This is NOT a fashion exhibit. The visuality will stun you, the creativity leave you incredulous. Be warned, the lines to get in snake all the way across the museum’s second floor. (If there was ever a time to become a member of the Met so you can walk right in, this would be it.)

From the MOMA:

***A close up of Arman’s “I Still Use Brushes” which I can’t help but love

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Jennifer Bartlett’s first show at Paula Cooper Gallery happened around the time I first arrived in Manhattan in the 70s, and her work still intrigues me. It is enigmatic, quirky and yet friendly.

***“I Am Still Alive: Politics and Everyday Life in Contemporary Drawing.”
From the show description: “In 1970, Japanese artist On Kawara sent a series of telegrams to his Dutch gallerist that proclaimed, “I am still alive.” The simplicity of the message, coupled with the austerity of the medium, creates the ambivalent impression of a profound truth expressed in almost immaterial form. This exhibition brings together works from the 1950s to today that exemplify such expressions of a personal existence in the world with decidedly conceptual, ephemeral, even opaque means.”

***León Ferrari’s work is so lushly retinal. His work is a perpetual joy to encounter.

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Paul Edmond’s woodcut, with a close up view

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Jim Hodges’ napkin art

***Kerry James Marshall

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Cy Twombly, in both 2 and 3D

From Dia:Beacon:

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Sunlight through the torqued metal of Serra’s massive sculptures, plus a view of the mottled surface

From the Katonah Museum:

***Stephen Talasnik’s pencil and ink drawing

From the New York Botanical Garden:

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Always a magical place.

Last but not least: What a weekend for Pride! Just hours earlier—late Friday night—New York State legalized same-sex marriage. The celebrating was happening everywhere.